Starting price

fedupwiththeworry

Hi everyone,

Been selling various bits and bobs from the house for a few months now and has been going OK but it has slowed right down in the last month or so, I assume because of the time of year ?

Anyway I've always started my listings around about the min price I'd be happy to get, sometimes I get that amount sometimes a little more, lately no bids at all at times. Looking at similar items others are selling they start at £0.99 and often end up with much more than I got if the item sold.

I've always thought this very risky but I suppose it gets to the potential buyers as a possible bargain and draws them in, plus of course no listing fee.

I'm just wondering how others approach their starting prices and if they've ever come unstuck.

Thx

cyberbob

Its always a risk to start low. If you do that you have to be willing to accept whatever happens. I normally just judge it on the item. I have before regretted putting to low a starting price. on the flipside though I have sometimes done a lot better than I thought I would when startingt low. Sometimes though if you really want a price its worth just listing as a buy it now

fedupwiththeworry

cyberbob wrote: »

Its always a risk to start low. If you do that you have to be willing to accept whatever happens. I normally just judge it on the item. I have before regretted putting to low a starting price. on the flipside though I have sometimes done a lot better than I thought I would when startingt low. Sometimes though if you really want a price its worth just listing as a buy it now

I agree it's a risk to start low which is why I've never done it, however I'm amazed at some of the items I've seen that are obviously worth quite a bit that start at £0.99 but end up going for £100+

I don't think I'd be able to sleep until quite a few bids had come in

Peter_Lanky

The only time that I have not started my bids at 99p are when it's an unusual valuable item that is valuable to a few buyers only, because there is a risk that one of this select few may not see the auction and it goes for a song. For everything else, it will usually reach it's correct selling price or close, or may even get more.

Look at the list of completed items. If there are plenty, then you should be OK. I've frequently noted that an item for sale for say £40 will get one single bid, whereas starting at 99p, it may get 20 bids, 12 of which are silly low bids, but the final price ends up at £55-60.

I've never understood why people put in very low bids early in the auction, when it is clear that there is no way the item will ever sell for that.

pseudopensioner

Peter_Lanky wrote: »

The only time that I have not started my bids at 99p are when it's an unusual valuable item that is valuable to a few buyers only, because there is a risk that one of this select few may not see the auction and it goes for a song. For everything else, it will usually reach it's correct selling price or close, or may even get more.

Look at the list of completed items. If there are plenty, then you should be OK. I've frequently noted that an item for sale for say £40 will get one single bid, whereas starting at 99p, it may get 20 bids, 12 of which are silly low bids, but the final price ends up at £55-60.

I've never understood why people put in very low bids early in the auction, when it is clear that there is no way the item will ever sell for that.

Surely it doesn't matter how much your maximum bid is, it will only equal the starting bid price or the next increment until someone else places another bid?

Peter_Lanky

pseudopensioner wrote: »

Surely it doesn't matter how much your maximum bid is, it will only equal the starting bid price or the next increment until someone else places another bid?

??? Is this an answer to a completely different question? It doesn't follow on from my comment.

jasmineswhiskers

Peter_Lanky wrote: »

I've never understood why people put in very low bids early in the auction, when it is clear that there is no way the item will ever sell for that.

For the fun of bidding?

Peter_Lanky

jasmineswhiskers wrote: »

For the fun of bidding?

Maybe. I'd like to think a bid of mine stood a chance though. Bidding £1.20 on something that sells 10 times a day or more for a minimum of £40 just seems pointless.

TurkishDelight

Peter_Lanky wrote: »

I've never understood why people put in very low bids early in the auction, when it is clear that there is no way the item will ever sell for that.

Maybe that's all they can afford to spend on it and they are hoping they get lucky.

Or maybe they are locking down a listing mistake so the seller can't notice and change it.
I often put early (small) bids on spelling mistake auctions.

I don't put my maximum as I don't want to get shilled or fall prey to the kinds of people who will bid "just 50p more" over and over.

fedupwiththeworry

Peter_Lanky wrote: »

The only time that I have not started my bids at 99p are when it's an unusual valuable item that is valuable to a few buyers only, because there is a risk that one of this select few may not see the auction and it goes for a song. For everything else, it will usually reach it's correct selling price or close, or may even get more.

Look at the list of completed items. If there are plenty, then you should be OK. I've frequently noted that an item for sale for say £40 will get one single bid, whereas starting at 99p, it may get 20 bids, 12 of which are silly low bids, but the final price ends up at £55-60.

I've never understood why people put in very low bids early in the auction, when it is clear that there is no way the item will ever sell for that.

At the moment I'm selling off a load of my old vintage toys. I check what they might sell for and so start at a price near to that, yet as I said some other sellers with the same model in roughly the same condition will start at £0.99 and end up getting more than me. Maybe once someone is hooked on bidding for an item they will just keep going and push it up as opposed to placing one bid at the average selling value.

TurkishDelight

I completely forgot what I came on this thread to say

99p starts are very risky, but start it too high and yes, you do get lower prices.

Personally I'd go for somewhere in the middle, that way people feel like they might be getting a bargain but you don't stand to lose too much.

Oh and whatever you do, don't go for the 99p + average/high buy it now option- I've picked up some incredible bargains from those.